Odawara, Hakone 1 day trip

Hi,

I would like support to prepare a 1 day trip to Odawara and Hakone, on February 14. I want to start from Shinagawa and return in the evening to Shinagawa. I also have JR pass.

I would like to see the Odawara plum blossom. I understand that there are some 35000 plum trees and this must be an experience. After that, I would like to make the Hakone train-cable car-boat-bus round trip, spend 2-3 hours in onsen and return to Shinagawa.

My questions are:

How to get from Odawara station to/from the plum blossom site.

How to divide my day, what time to allocate for each place.

What onsen do you recommend.

Finally, since it is only one day, do you think I should purchase the Hakone 2 day free pass.

Thanks

Someone else asked about the plum festival, and the location is the same as last year:

http://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+88951

The plum trees are located in a few separate places "around" Odawara. One of them is the Odawara Castle Park, which is 10-minute walk from Odawara station. But there are only about 250 plum trees there.

The largest site seems to be Soga Bairin (Soga Plum Forest/Park, with 35,000 trees), which are once again spread across an area around Shimo-soga station. If you take Shinkansen from Shinagawa to Odawara, you have to take the Tokaido Line back toward Tokyo to Kozu, then change trains to Gotemba Line, to get to Shimo-soga. (Or from Shinagawa station, you can take Tokaido Line "Acty" rapid train to Kozu, then change to Gotemba Line.)

Anyway, if this is your point of interest, it will take up some time in the morning before you can head out to Hakone from Odawara.